Trolley door combination



April 4, 1967 E. R. TILLMAN 3,312,016

TROLLEY DOOR COMBINATION Filed Aug. 10, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ERNEST R. TILLMAN ATTORNEY April 4, 1967 E. R. TILLMAN TROLLEY DOOR COMBINATIQN 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 10, 1966 in Q INVENTOR. ERNEST R. TILLMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,312,016 Patented Apr. 4, 1967 3,312,016 TROLLEY DOOR COMBINATION Ernest R. Tillman, 5941 E. Edgemont,

Scottsdale, Ariz. 85057 Filed Aug. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 571,447 1 Claim. (Cl. 49-218) This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 447,425, filed Apr. 12, 1965, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to an improved trolley door combination, and more particularly to a combination including means whereby a trolley door may be moved without abrasion to the door frame with which it is associated.

Trolley doors are employed in a wide variety of applications, particularly when large or heavy doors are required to form a closure. In general, trolley doors comprise a track means near and parallel to the upper door frame for which closure is required. A trolley, or trolleys, from which the door is suspended, travels along the track means. Opening or closing of the door is accomplished by sliding the door in front of the door frame.

Sealing is desirable for doors employed in connection with refrigerators, rooms having controlled climate or humidity, or the like. Because of the sliding nature of trolley doors, it has been difiicult to provide sealing means therefor. Gaskets or sealers tend to be abraded away because of the sliding movement of the door relative to its frame, with consequent destruction of the seal between door and frame.

It is therefore a principal object of my invention to provide a trolley door combination which will travel freely along its tracks, substantially without abrasion of the door frame with which it is associated.

It is another object of my invention to provide a trolley door combination which is scalable.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the course of the following specification and claims when taken in view of the accompanying drawings.

Briefly, my improved trolley door comprises trolley and track means associated with a door frame. At least one hanger depends from each trolley and rotatably engages a pivot arm extending substantially radially from a support rod. The support rod rotatably engages support bearing means on a door and has an actuating lever extending substantially radially therefrom. When the actuating lever is raised, the support rod rotates. Rotation of the support rod causes the pivot arm to raise the door upwardly and away from the door frame in a substantially arcuate path.

A better understanding of my invention may be obtained in light of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a partial isometric illustrating one embodiment of my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partial sectional elevation taken along 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial sectional elevation taken along 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation illustrating my invention with attention directed to another feature which may be incorporated therein;

FIGURE 5 is a partial elevation taken along 5--5 of FIGURE 4-;

FIGURE 6 is a partial sectional plan view taken along 66 of FIGURE 4 illustrating one type of sealing means; and

FIGURE 7 is a partial sectional plan view similar to FIGURE 6 illustrating another useful sealing means.

With reference to the drawings, a door 10 has a support bearing means 11 in the form of pillow blocks bolted to its top surface. A support rod 12 rotatably engages in the pillow block support bearing means 11. The support rod 12 has a plurality of parallel pivot arms 14 extending substantially radially therefrom and rotatable therewith. The pivot arms 14 may be secured to the support rod as by welding or the like. A track member 15 is secured to the upper outside portion of the Wall or door frame 16 and is substantially parallel thereto. A trolley, generally designated by the reference character 18, travels in said track means 15 and comprises a plurality of wheels 20 joined by a frame 21. A threaded rod member 22 depends from the frame member 21 and has a collar 24 secured as by a nut 25. Collar 24 has a pair of pivot pins 26 which rotatably engage the pivot arms 14 secured to the rotatable support rod 12.

Actuating lever 28 extends substantially radially from the support rod 12 and is rigidly afi-lxed thereto, as by welding or the like. Actuatin-g lever 28 extends generally toward the outside face of the door 10; Le, away from the door frame 16. When lever 28 is raised, support rod 12 rotates in its bearing means 11 and causes pivot arms 14 to rotate about pivot pins 26. Thus, raising of the lever means 28 moves the door 10 in an upward and outward, substantially ar-cuate path away from and out of contact withdoor frame 16.

Most trolley doors for which my invention is applicable are of at least sufiicient height to permit a person to enter the open doorway in an upright position and may be as high as one or two stories or more. For convenience, I prefer to provide means to operate actuating lever 28 at some location on the face of the trolley door 10. To this end, I preferably provide a :plate member 30 having a pivot 31 mounted thereon, secured to the face of the trolley door 10. A crank member 32 having a handle 34 near one end pivots at 31. A lever extension 35 pivotally communicates between the actuating lever 28 and the portion of the crank member 32opposite the handle 34. Thus, by rotation of the crankmember 32, operation of the actuating lever 28 may be accomplished from any convenient location on the face of the trolley door 10.

When the door 10 is open and spaced away fromthe door frame 16, the weight of the door tends to rotate the support rod 12 forcing the lever 28 downwardly. To prevent the door 10 from automatically swinging inwardly against the door frame 16, the pivotal connection 35a between the lever extension 35 and the-crank 32 is disposed of? center of a-line extending from the crank pivot 31 and the pivotal connection 352: between the lever extension 35 and the actuating lever 28. Thus, downward force on the lever extension 35 forces the crank 32 against the stop pin 32a when the door is open, thereby preventing further rotation of the support rod 12 which would allow the door to swing inwardly against the frame 16.

When it is desired to close the door 10 against the frame 16, the crank handle 34 is moved in the direction of the arrow A, rotating the crank 32 about pivot 31. The portion of the crank 32 opposite the handle 34 will then come to rest against the stop pin 32b, allowing the lever extension 35 and the actuating lever 28 to move downwardly a sufficient distance to allow the door 10 to close inwardly against the frame 16. Of course, the stop pin 32b can be omitted, if desired.

When sealing of the closed trolley door is desirable, sealing means 38 may be secured to the inside periphery of the trolley door 10 to engage with door frame 16 and thereby seal the closure. Occasionally, the door frame employed with trolley doors has a floor or sill portion which is substantially flush with the floor. Sealing means on the bottom inside periphery of the trolley door would be substantially ineffective since there would be no frame portion with which it could engage. In such situations, a bottom sealing means 39 is secured to the bottom surface of the trolley door Ill and engages with the floor 40 to seal the bottom of the door closure.

Typical shapes of sealing means are illustrated in FIG- URES 6 and 7. In FIGURE 6, sealing means 42 is in the form of a resiliently deformable elongated oval structure. When sealing means 42 contacts the door frame 16, a crushing force is exerted thereon, deforming the sealer 42 and sealing the closure. Sealing means 43 illustrated in FIGURE 7 is of resiliently deformable material and has a pair of arcuate lip members which function in substantially the same manner as the sealer 42 illustrated in FIGURE 6.

Sealing closure of the bottom portion of the trolley door 10 may be facilitated by guide members 45 mounted on the floor 40 slightly removed from the door frame member 16. The guide members 45 are in the form of open acute angle members and have their closed end directed toward the plane of the Wall or frame member 16. Guide members 45 may be secured to the floor 40 as by bolts 46. When the trolley door is brought into position in front of the door opening, the actuating lever is lowered, thereby to lower the trolley door 10. As the trolley door 10 is lowered, the bottom outside edge of the trolley door 10 engages with the flat sloping portion of the guide member 45 which forces the bottom portion of the trolley door 10 into sealing engagement with the door frame 16.

If desired, the track member may be mounted with a slight slope downward toward the closed position. Trigger means 50 may be mounted on the door frame 16 to actuate the crank member 32 when the trolley door 10 approaches its normally closed position. In this manher, an automatic door closer may be provided wherein an open trolley door will of its own weight travel down the track 15 until the crank member 32 is actuated, whereupon the trolley door will close and engage the door frame 16.

Various modifications may be made in my invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, and it is to be understood that I limit myself only as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

An improved trolley door adapted to be moved laterally into position to register with a door opening and to then be moved inwardly against the frame thereof to close said opening, comprising:

(a) a track secured to the frame above the door opening, spaced trolley means slidably supported on the track, each said trolley means having at least one hanger depending therefrom;

(b) a rotatable support rod and pivot arms, said pivot arms having one end rigidly secured to and extending substantially radially from said support rod and rotatable therewith, the other end of said pivot arms pivotally secured to said hangers;

(c) a door having spaced support bearing means secured to the upper margin thereof journaling said support rod for rotation relative to the door;

((1) an actuating lever rigidly secured to and extending substantially radially from said support rod, whereby an upward motion of said actuating lever rotates said support llOd and said pivot arms lift said door upwardly and away from said door frame;

(e) means for automatically closing said door against said frame when said door is positioned in lateral registration with said opening, including a lever extension having one end pivotally secured to said actuating lever and extending downwardly therefrom, a crank member pivotally mounted intermediate the length thereof on the face of said door, pivotally connected to the other end of the downwardly extending lever extension at one end of said crank and having a crank handle on the other end,

stop means on said door limiting the rotation of said crank around its pivotal mounting when said door is spaced away from said door frame, and

trigger means secured to the door frame and having an extension operatively engaging said crank handle when said door moves into lateral registration with said door frame, thereby to rotate said crank away from said stop means and automatically close said door inwardly against said door frame,

the pivotal connection between said crank member and said leve-r extension being disposed off-center of a line extending from said crank pivot to said pivotal engagement of said actuating lever and said lever extension when said door is spaced away from said frame, thereby urging said crank against said step means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,199,160 4/1940 Leonard 49218 2,550,943 5/1951 Spencer 49216 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

KENNETH DOWNEY, Examiner. 

